


The Last Titan

by DoomBeThyName



Category: Justice League Dark: Apokolips War (2020), Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016), Teen Titans (Comics), Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2017)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-16 04:40:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29076483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoomBeThyName/pseuds/DoomBeThyName
Summary: For the second time in her life, Raven finds herself standing among the broken bodies of those she calls family. Going through pain beyond pain, she cancels the madness consuming her for a faint light in the dark- an unearthly shot of reversing the act of death.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne/Talia al Ghul (mentioned), Raven/Damian Wayne
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	1. Judas Contract... Completed

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is something I've posted in my one-shot series, but I won't be continuing on that line anymore. I start writing them out and unfortunately become burnt out after I start hitting the 15k mark or so, so I've been reposting as individual stories that'll span multiples chapters (this one will likely go between 7-9, I believe). I hope you all stick around and enjoy!

Ruins were sometimes all you were left with. A hole larger than the size of what your life felt blown through the middle of your gut. Legs lifeless beneath you. And blood running colder than ice as you feel every beat of your heart pounding in your ears.

Raven was alone in a deserted cavernous area full of broken machinery and felt it was a landscape worse than Hell. Her vision was blurry. She felt so weak, almost numb to the cold floor that would’ve been hurting her knees had she been more aware. Mustering up as much strength as she could, Raven attempted to push herself up to stand, only to fall back down the instant she rose followed by a gasp in pain.

“I can’t-“ she managed, sounding nearly inaudible to herself. Pale hands were on cold stone floors yet again, getting blurrier by the second. It was taking everything in her not to collapse.

“Ra- Raven..?”

Spontaneous strength snapped in her. Lifting her eyes up to where the voice came from, she couldn’t quite make out where the voice had come from. Only from who.

“Ro- T-Tim?” she asked the darkness around her. “Where are you?”

“Just… _unh,_ about twenty fight to your right.”

Raven peered that way best as she could, but to no avail. In a mental state of detriment, she somehow found the energy to begin numbly moving her limbs across the surface, crawling in the direction her old friend stated. Her breathing was becoming wheezier like her lungs were losing the will to take in air. It felt like her senses didn’t want to keep bearing witness to what they were observing around her until finally, her hand touched a boot. Meekly lifting her gaze up, she could just make out the unmoving colorful blob that was Robin.

“Tim,” choked Raven, her throat in searing pain, “what’s happened..? I-“

“They got us, Rae,” mumbled Tim and his voice sounded weaker than his life force felt. Raven could barely pick either of them up. “It… it’s not your fault, old friend. We, _unh…_ we just… didn’t put our trust in the right people this time…”

Raven managed to crawl a little further up. Her hand gripped Tim’s shoulder as best it could, hopefully not hurting him, and planted herself right by his side. Coldness gripped her as she realized Tim hadn’t even been able to have moved an inch. Even touching him, she felt only the scarcest whisper of life.

“How… did this happen?” breathed Raven. It was very nearly all she could muster anymore. “The… others?”

Silence met her for much longer than she liked, though now Raven’s eyes were closed. She was leaning against the same piece of broken machinery Tim was propped upon. The most powerful tug of life hit her as what was left of Tim Drake flooded with an overwhelming emotion: grief.

“They… there aren’t going to be any others with you anymore, Raven…”

Raven couldn’t marshal any more strength except her shut eyes tightening even more as her body somehow found it in her to well up tears beneath her lashes. She felt it… it only being her and Tim in this large empty room. Yet the rest of the Titans had gone nowhere at all.

“How?” she croaked as the first tear fell.

“I- _unh! Oooh man,”_ said Tim in a voice lower than before. Raven struggled to hear a word he whispered, and now it was even in a strangled voice. “It wasn’t your fault… Rae… Terra was never with us.”

Raven tried to recall the last thing she remembered. Falling asleep in the tower. Glimpses of other moments came to her. But they were so foggy.

“Drugged you,” Tim answered her thoughts. He gave a wet cough before continuing. “Nothing… _nothing_ you could’ve done. Got you while you were sleeping. Heh… always said you were our… our ace-in-the-hole, Rae…”

“Tim,” moaned Raven, barely above a whisper, “please, don’t. I was nothing in the end… Terra? Why?”

“Deathstroke. She and him… working for over a year undercover on us… for Blood.”

“We beat him,” said Raven, only to herself. “Every factory he had, we destroyed.”

“Diversions,” said Tim solemnly in that horrendous voice, “really working on a way to steal our powers… and they did. A trap. For each and every one of us…”

Tears were falling from both of Raven’s eyes now. “Kori..? Gar...? _Donna?”_

“They’re here, Rae,” said Tim softer than ever now. “We’re still with you. I guess… I guess the machine wasn’t enough to off you.”

“Not as sharp as usual, Robin,” sniffled Raven, feeling weaker by the second, “I’ll be right behind you.”

It took Tim a long moment to answer. Raven was scared for a second, but his voice came back.

“Nah… you’ll make it out of here, Rae. You’re the strongest person I know. Just… take them. Please do it right. Take me back to my father… And don’t have this black cloud over you. You need… you need…”

Quiet hung in the air. Raven opened her eyes again, everything before her undepictable through wet and darkening vision.

“Tim?” she called out meekly.

“…..”

“……….”

“Tim..?”

“………..”

“……………….”

_“Tim….!?”_

“…………….”

“…………………………….”


	2. Isn't Hope What We Fight For?

Raven wasn’t aware how much time was passing. The next time she opened her eyes, her vision was back, but she couldn’t manage to stay awake. She caught the sight of Tim Drake, eyes closed in his Robin mask and an almost peaceful expression upon his face before she fainted again. The second time she awoke, strength was returning to her limbs. She managed to get up and stumble a few steps before falling again, barely catching herself on more broke machinery. Misery overwhelmed her as she had caught the sight of a tall and familiar slender figure in a purple getup next to a black-and-blue suited young man. Heartache was all she felt as she fell into darkness again.

The next time Raven came to she’d found much more of her strength. Nothing even an inch to her full powers, but she could stand without headache. And, most unfortunately, see.

The area was generally in a state of disaster. Sparks still flickered out of the large machines posted around. Perhaps the Titans had some sort of fight immediately after the procedure. Perhaps there was an explosion or something at the end. She didn’t know. She didn’t really care. All that mattered was the end result and here it was, lying all around her.

Kori… Donna… Garfield… Jaime… Wally… Tim…

The best that could be said, as Raven dropped to her knees beside her late Amazonian friend, was that their bodies were at least unblotted with bruises. It looked as if they had merely fallen asleep.

She had to do something, anything. Lining her friends up to move, she numbly thought of how to proceed. Yet Raven had no idea where she even was. Constructing a portal back to the tower seemed the obvious thing to do. But the thought of returning to an empty home with her deceased family at her side sapped the life from her. Her arm fell to her side, dangling helplessly. Glancing downwards, her eyes found Tim’s resting face.

He always knew what to do.

_“Please do it right. Take me back to my father.”_

“Oh Tim,” said Raven under her breath, “how could I possibly do that…” The thought of Batman being shown his second dead son was daunting. She’d never really known the other Robin who’d passed. Jason Todd had been five years ahead of her. It was easier to think of that, though, than of her friend’s own fates. Almost a welcomed distraction to focus on.

It was a familiar tale only because once you’ve heard it the one time, it was seared into your mind for good. Batman being too late for once. A rare failure for the Dark Knight of the Justice League. His own son destroyed by his arch-nemesis. And then Jason’s seemly return years later as a haunting anti-hero to Gotham before reforming.

Raven paused and for a long moment, she didn’t even consciously know for what.

…

Returned.

The thought boiled in Raven’s brain. She stood there, frozen, but the first time feeling anything but. Her mind raced with a daring idea that she knew was desperate, had even called despicable and unnatural before in a conversation with Donna, was suddenly the most influential thought it felt she ever had. It would not be something she’d ever consider otherwise.

She tensed as she realized just how easy it was to judge from the other end. When it wasn’t your family that was dead.

Raven knew borderline nothing about the Lazarus Pits. Only that there were a few of them throughout the planet and the only location of one that she even remotely knew of was in Nanda Parbat, the home of Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins.

Think logically, Raven. Think logically…

But how could she? For the second time in her life, she was surrounded by her destroyed family, alone and not knowing what to do. Desperation seized her heart, taken over her mind. It felt as if she concentrated too hard on anything else but this chance, the mental control of her powers would snap. Though she wasn’t even sure where Nanda Parbat was. Somewhere in the Tibetan mountains. She’d never even been to Tibet.

Shaky breathing of the Titan was the only noise made in this cavernous room. The broken machinery had stopped sending sparks in desperate attempts at life. The six bodies of her only friends were unmoving. Her amethyst eyes drifted until they found the feet of her team. Something about that sight oddly seemed to have been a deciding factor.

She had to try. At the very least, she had to investigate. If there was even the slimmest of chances.

Thinking quickly, Raven raised her hands and muttered a magical phrase that fabricated a glowing oval-shaped portal in the middle of the room. A pocket dimension where time worked very differently was on the other side.

“This will keep you,” said Raven hoarsely to the feet of her friends, unable to look upon their faces anymore, “until I… I can do this.” Carefully, concentrating as much as she could, she lifted their bodies telekinetically and moved them through the portal, feeling just as empty as before once she closed it behind them.

~

Every step taken felt weightless to Raven, as though she were no longer tied to reality. Stepping through the next portal she’d formed some hours later after regaining strength, Raven found herself at the foot of the Himalayas, the only place she knew where to start on the look for Nanda Parbat.

After debating very briefly of whether or not to go to Batman or Nightwing, she decided against it as they would likely be opposed to the steps she was willing to take.

What she wasn’t braced for was how cold it was going to be. Freezing winds ripped straight through her violet cloak. The hood up made no difference at all. Hugging herself tightly, she made her way forward. A small village was just ahead, the closest civilization she knew to the foot of the region. Nightwing had once spoken of this place during storytime to the Titans once long ago before he’d left the leadership to Kori to start his life with Barbara in Bludhaven.

A few dozen buildings made of wood seemed familiar from his tale. Nearly all were dimly lit as the sun began to fade, quickly hiding behind the massive size of the mountain close in the distance. It was here she’d begin to ask around.

But come morning. For now, she needed to find somewhere to lay her head and get warm.

A single long, dark pavement road led the way to the village beneath her as she flew in. Raven wondered idly how many travelers this location actually received. There weren’t even vehicles on the roads as far as she could tell. Some horses, some mules pulling carts with people walking beside them. Smaller wooden homes laid on the outskirts while larger buildings that Raven assumed were shops were towards the central area. One of the few buildings that were over a single story tall that had the most lights had a sign that read _Dechen Inn._

Raven landed close to it while still covered in darkness, not keen to be seen until she had to. Lamp posts lit the corners of the village, but all else was shadows other than interior lighting. As she made her way up the front steps of the tavern, thinking of a story she could spin, she heard much laughter from down the road, from the brightest building in the small settlement. She could almost smell the alcohol from here.

A small bell rang as she pushed the front door open gently. It was a quaint room, devoid of anyone else but a receptionist with his back turned, warm and lit by candles. A slender man in a stitched coat with a mousey face and a thin mustache turned towards Raven, pausing as he inspected her fully. An uneasy smile that Raven didn’t like slid onto his face.

“Well _hellooo,”_ said the man in an oily voice, “how might I help you, young lady? Far from home?”

“I’m in need of a room for the night,” said Raven, lowering her hood. The man’s eyes popped open further. “I have no currency of any kind, but I’m willing to work to pay a debt.”

“Oh?” squealed the man in a delighted manner. “You’re willing to… _work,_ are you?”

His eyes drooped to Raven’s breasts.

“Enough!”

Raven’s glare went from the weaselly man to the new figure emerging from a wooden door behind him. An older, grizzly looking man of Asian descent. He was a more burly figure with cropped hair and an unkempt beard. His dark eyes were hard on the receptionist, who’d jumped as if whipped by his master for getting his hand caught in the cookie jar.

“You’re done for the night _,”_ said the burly man roughly to the weasel. “ _Go home.”_

“Ah- of course, master Jampa,” said the weasel man politely, but his face quickly became a sneer as he bowed his head and turned away from them, leaving through a side door. The burly man watched the door for a long moment before turning his gaze to Raven.

“You had nothing to fear from him,” he said as gently as he could for having the booming voice of a giant.

“No, I didn’t,” agreed Raven. The burly man seemed to be inspecting her, but in a much different way from the receptionist.

“You say you will work,” he stated, “what can you do?”

“I’m capable of whatever is needed to be done,” said Raven confidently, “I just need a place to be out of the cold… and information.”

The burly man chuckled once, but Raven could tell it was more out of sarcasm than amusement.

“Information?” he said gruffly. “Does it look like I’m the kind to have spades of information, young lady?”

“Inn-Keeps always do,” Raven tried. The burly inn-keep studied her for a few moments longer, then nodded his head, looking tired.

“Leave it for the morning time,” he said in that rough voice, “after you _work._ You will be up at first light. Repay me well for the rest and I will tell you all I can. You’ll find a made bed up the stairs, second door on the left.”

It was a fair agreement that Raven respected. A good start to getting what she needed, at the very least. She bade the giant inn-keeper goodnight and made her way as he directed.

Despite the thick boards of shelter, the rooms were still cold. A single bed, about a twin size, was waiting in the room for her. There was hardly anything more to it and the sheets were fairly thin. She had to keep herself wrapped in her cloak and then the blankets provided as not to freeze. Her head on the uncomfortable feather pillow, Raven tried desperately not to think of her friends in their current state. But still, it seized her. Anxiety gripped her as some untold fear told her that there was nothing to be done. It froze her chest.

But exhaustion still took her to Morpheus. She was still feeling incredibly week from what had taken place against her team and was doubtful she could even produce another portal without a good night’s sleep. Though until the very end, their faces flashed in her mind, and Raven felt a tear slide down her cheek as she entered the temporary abyss.

~

An awful nightmare of flying demons destroying the world frightened Raven’s senses enough to jolt her awake. Her eyes sprang wide and she sat up breathing quickly. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face.

Sunlight was coming through the looser boards of the room. She could hear murmurs coming from below her. Raven threw the covers off of her body, feeling irritation at herself- she’d promised the inn-keep to have been up at first light. With nothing in the room to even wash her face with, she merely rubbed her eyes as she pulled the door open and made her way downstairs.

“There you are,” came a booming voice from her right as Raven reached the landing. Raven whipped her head around to see the inn-keep, Jampa, sitting alone at one of three wooden tables in what Raven presumed was a dining room. She slowly walked over.

“Sit,” he said, gesturing to one of the empty chairs. The wind was whipping sharply against the windows. She could feel wisps of it through the boards. “Join me. We shall talk.”

Raven glanced down at the contents of the table. A large plate of eggs was accompanied by some homemade-looking bread components. A mug made of hammered steel contained a steaming dark liquid.

Slowly, she lowered herself on the chair two seats from him.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered, “I told you I’d be awake at first light-“ she began to apologize, but the burly inn-keep cut her off before she could continue.

“To which I would have said go back to sleep girl,” he boomed, taking a large bite of bread. “I do not trade work for shelter. If there was something needed be done, I would do it myself.” To Raven’s questioning look, he, in a voice some octaves lower, said, “You did not see your own face last night. You were clearly in a state of shock, girl. As unbothered as you were from my new greeter, I reckoned it wasn’t him that did that to you.”

Raven clenched her jaw to still her quivering bottom lip and dropped her eyes to the table. “Thank you,” she said.

Jampa munched for a second longer the pushed the plates towards Raven.

“Eat,” he said. “The few other occupants I had have already left. This is what’s left. Gather your strength and tell me what you’ve come for.”

Raven picked at the bread absently, knowing the inn-keep was still watching her. After nibbling on a piece of surprisingly tasty breakfast, she began.

“I just need information,” she said, “about a local legend: Nanda Parbat.”

Whatever the inn-keep Jampa had been expecting, this was not it. He froze in a moment of shock. When he recovered, his face was nearly dismissive.

“Demons and ghosts, girl,” he said gruffly, “that which doesn’t exist. You’ve come for nothing.”

“I know Nanda Parbat exists,” said Raven in determination, “and I know it’s on this mountain. I just don’t know precisely where.”

“You know this place that has never been found exists,” said Jampa, fixing a stare at her with those dark eyes, “tell me, have you also caught the fat man in a red suit that sneaks down chimneys once a year?”

A caustic response stopped on the edge of Raven’s tongue- she felt it. Not even close to her normal strength, she felt a sense of what he was feeling.

“Tell me why you don’t believe your own words,” said Raven slowly. Jampa’s eyes tightened and Raven knew she’d caught him at something.

“Why do you look for the home of demons?” he instead said in a defensive voice. There was a pause as he and Raven studied one another. Raven folded her hands on the table, closed her eyes, and reopened them, fixing the inn-keep with a new look.

“Believe me,” she said, “they’re not the only demons.”

Jampa’s eyes widened again and Raven felt the second emotion running through him: fear.

He took a moment to compose himself. Raven watched as he gazed out the window and around his inn before looking back at her. They both ignored voices coming from outside.

“There are legends of course,” he started off, “of this mystical palace in the mountains where ninjas dwelled. The kind of thing some kid would have made up a hundred years ago to impress his friends. But they say the tale is centuries old.”

“And what about anything said recently would have you believe them?” asked Raven, reaching for some grasp as to where to go next. The inn-keep gave her a long look before answering.

“Nothing,” he said quietly, “because the only ones who come back from seeking it are the ones who never found a thing.”

“There has to be something!” Raven insisted. Jampa was glancing down at her hands which had turned to fists on the table. He was quiet another moment longer before sighing.

“There were rumors,” he started off slowly, “seven, eight years ago from some hikers who’d gone up to reach the peak on the north-eastern side… they say there were explosions in the distance, echoing off the peaks of snow.”

“Did anyone investigate?” Raven asked desperately.

“Those who did never returned,” said Jampa in an uninterested voice, “or do you not remember me telling you?”

Raven glanced out the window. Villagers were walking by slowly and trying to sneakily peer in making her believe the weasel from last night had perhaps gossiped. Fortunately, the windows were dark enough she doubted they saw anything.

“That’s where I’ll start my search then,” decided Raven, standing from the table. Jampa watched her wearily.

“Tell me, girl,” he said in a heavy voice, “do you seek this place for the legend of its immortality?”

Raven glanced at him again watching her with a somber expression. This stranger had fed her, given her shelter, and, most importantly, information without asking a thing in return. And now he seemed concerned for her. As much as she didn’t want to talk, or even think, about her business there, she owed him something.

“I’m not going for anything that has to do with myself,” she said evasively. Jampa studied her intently again and then his face gradually eased.

“You remind me of the man from long ago,” he said mysteriously, sipping from the steel mug.

“Someone comes to mind when you look at me?” asked Raven skeptically. Jampa chuckled.

“My mother, who started this inn when I was a boy, was still running the show the day he came,” said Jampa. “Come and gone like the spring wind. He looked a few years younger than I was at the time, not much older than you seem to be now. I remember the women around here called him _Aden_ long after he’d left because he never once gave a name. Means _good-looking_ in our tongue,” he said in response to Raven’s questioning look. “He came one night looking for Nanda Parbat just like you are. I’ll never forget the determination in those serious blue eyes of his… they made quite the impression. Never once hesitated after being told most who went looking for it in the wild, lost parts of the mountain never returned. The fellas ‘round here all said he was going up there to be the leader of the demon killers, but I knew. Looking him in the eye, I knew… there was a good one.”

Raven managed to not physically react to the chill she felt crawling over her skin as she knew exactly whom the inn-keep was mentioning. “So,” she said, “how long ago was he here?”

Jampa looked thoughtful. “Time is hard to tell here by your standards, measuring every second of every day in your computers and calendars. But I’d say… eighteen years? Nearly nineteen years? Been a long, long while. He was just one you don’t forget.”

You have no idea, thought Raven. She felt a court of curiosity build up outside of the inn. The weasel had definitely done some talking.

“I’ll be taking my leave now,” said Raven, “thank you for everything you have provided me with.”

Jampa grunted, watching her. Raven sensed his hesitation before saying, “If… if you do manage to find this place and you make it back. Pop on by again. Eggs on the house.”

Raven paused at the unexpected sentiment. She swallowed and softly said, “I will.” Then turned and headed for the door, throwing her hood up over her head.

Every head was staring in her direction once Raven stepped out the front door, but she paid them no mind. Her eyes were on the far north-east side of the mountain. Not much of her strength had returned, but Raven knew she’d be using whatever had today in order to find Nanda Parbat. Ignoring a few different set of people asking how she was and if she’d come over for tea, raven lifted a palm to the empty space in front of her and created a portal, concentrating on it sending her a few thousand feet up the mountain. Several of the villagers cried.

“Witch!” one screamed.

“Kill it with fire!” yelled another.

“Begone, demon! We’ve done nothing wrong!” the next hollered.

Raven didn’t bother with their cursing. There wasn’t time. She stepped through her portal and came upon a grassy ledge.

It took Raven a moment to soak in where she was at. Virgin mountain laid out all around her. Steep cliffs of sharp rocks with patches of dark green in-between went up for as far as her eye could see. There was a very large nest with three crème-colored, brown-spotted eggs not thirty feet below her. At this distance, she couldn’t make out the village that must’ve been over half a mile down. All that could be heard was the whistling of the sharp wind.

Raven looked in every direction of the purity for where to jump to next. She had to hurry. It would be days at most before Batman or Nightwing would try to contact the tower. Probably sooner in case of radio silence. There was no affording to waste any time.

Gathering her bearings, Raven found the direction of north-east and prepared for another portal jump. Already the tips of her fingers were losing feeling, but she had no choice. Raising a palm yet again, Raven emitted a portal that took her a few thousand feet away.

And so it carried on for a majority of the day. Sapping what little strength she’d regained, Raven covered as much ground as she possibly could, often coming across rare and exotic Himalayan wildlife such as the Himalayan Monal (a rare bird nearly as colorful as a peacock), blue sheep standing upon some boulders that fled the instant Raven appeared, a host of yaks in the distance grazing, and even a singular snow leopard that was sleeping in a tucked away crevice very far up. Raven observed the majestic animal resting peacefully as she gathered the strength for another jump. 

All day she traveled like this, time being hard to tell in the vast shadows of the mountain, trying to find a secret that not even neighbors knew of. Again she thought of contacting Batman, perhaps designing some elaborate other reason of why she’d need to find this lost palace. Almost giving up as the freezing winds cut straight to her bones numbing her the further up she went. Then, as she stepped through her dozenth portal and came across another tall grass ledge, a sight as majestic as Azarath itself greeted her eyes.

Nanda Parbat.

A collection of very well-crafted buildings built on what looked like a very large ledge with two grand clearings in the middle. The buildings had white walls with blue-tiled thatched roofs. Columns rising far above the rest were dispersed throughout the area, probably as lookouts. Overlooking it all was one building much larger than the rest, spanning wide and standing perhaps five or six stories tall. Raven guessed it was built there as to stand over the Lazarus Pit itself.

It was very obvious as to why it had been so difficult to find after centuries to Raven. Nanda Parbat, though it looked to be a large estate indeed, was tucked away hidden in-between peaks of the Himalayas, not something one could spot while scaling up the mountain. You’d have to be lucky to find the right spot to be able to look down on it like Raven was.

She calculated where first to go with her senses being as dull as the felt at this point as she peered over the ledge she was on, unable to even feel a collective bit of emotion running through the estate. Nothing jumped out at her. No training in the courtyard, no particular building brimming with life, even the main structure had but a few lights on.

Raven studied the layout further. Jumping straight to the courtyard had seemed suicide at first, but it had to have been the best bet to get attention fast. What she knew of Ra’s al Ghul was that he was not known for his mercy. If she couldn’t defend herself, she was a goner. But the chances of her dragging this out any longer were slim as every part of her felt weak and the air was getting colder.

There wasn’t much of a choice, she realized, as she tried to stand and instantly dropped back to her knees. It appeared she’d made it this far off adrenaline alone. Now that she stopped to think, that intensity had left her. Pain was coming in waves throughout her body. She had to act fast.

Clenching her teeth down hard, Raven summoned the last portal she could manage, hoping to use what last bits of strength she had left to create a shield for when it was needed. She forged her way through and came upon dirt covering a hard stone surface. The walls she’d witnessed from a distance stood around her, much taller than she’d realized, giving her the feeling of being trapped.

All was silent for the briefest moment, save the swaying of the wind.

Raven had just enough awareness to throw up a shield in time to deflect a volley of a half dozen arrows.

“ _Ah!”_ she cried in pain, feeling their sharpness against her construct.

“Our sanctuary has been breached!” said a female voice fiercely. Raven saw what must have been the leader of the guards jump down into the clearing in front of her, a trail of assassins quickly following behind her. Her jet-black hair was no longer than Raven’s. The woman wore minimal clothing despite the freezing weather. A scarlet long-sleeved top with a diamond cut hold between her neckline and cleavage flowed down to a loin-cloth between her thighs, leaving her shapely legs exposed. She drew a curved katana and directed her horde towards Raven with it.

“Defend our home!” she ordered them all. “Attack!”

Nearly two dozen assassins rushed Raven without any further ado. Closing her eyes and feeling desperate, Raven could already taste blood in her mouth. Nearly every joint in her body ached. Only now she was realizing just how not far from her death bed she was. Mustering every little bit of energy she could, she pushed out her dark energy shield to slam it against the oncoming attackers, knocking many several feet back.

But her shield had now dispersed and Raven fell to her knees, helpless.

“Please,” she tried, but there wasn’t any way they heard her. She sounded nearly as weak as she’d been when talking to Tim. “I just need… I need…”

A horrendous moment arrived when she heard a single assassin running up, drawing their sword.

Raven closed her eyes, preparing for the final painful second of her life.

_“Enough!”_

All paused. It seemed even the wind. Raven’s eyes opened weakly, but they were still cast downwards. She had just enough awareness to know the assassin’s blade had stopped less than a foot away from hitting the back of her neck.

Her vision was darkening. Her senses grew dull. But she still heard significant steps coming her way as her would-be assassin retreated. Suddenly, finely made boots stepped in front of Raven and came to a halt. She felt the being kneel down in front of her.

“You,” the voice said with distaste. Raven found the strength to crane her neck up. Darkness blurred nearly everything out, but one thing managed to stand out vividly before she collapsed. A set of serious, emerald-shaded eyes that may have been the last thing she’d ever see.

And Raven fell towards them and all was dark.


End file.
